Slightly Smitten
by LillianLightfoot
Summary: This time it's different for Slightly. He didn't much care for Wendy or Jane because he thinks girls are smelly wastes of time. But when Wendy's granddaughter Margaret comes to Neverland, Slightly begins to fall ill with something between love and nausea.
1. Chapter 1

**[[ I don't own Peter Pan, y'all! ]]**

She reminded me of my mother, that's what I first thought. I have the advantage over the other lost boys of remembering my mother. It's rather useful knowing what your mother looked like when girls show up who are ugly. All the other boys get sad because they can't be sure their mothers were not ugly.

But of course, I know my mother was quite lovely.

Quite like Margaret.

She had the same hair, long and thick and dark, and skin so perfect pink. Most girls Peter brings around have boring eyelashes that make me think of dead weeds, but Margaret's were dark like raven's feathers. Her eyes were the most wonderful of all. They were bright blue, and always smiling. Just like my mother's.

I looked at the other boys. They were all smiling at Margaret. Of course I knew what they were thinking. The stupid boys must have been in love with her.

Not like me. I knew Margaret was Peter's girl. I wouldn't love her.

She smiled widely at Peter, just like Wendy and Jane had. I could tell she loved him already. (I am quite the expert on matters of love.) I squinted my eyes a little, because I can tell what people are thinking when I squint at them.

I imagined for a moment that her smile was turned a little towards me, and my face flashed red.

I looked away from the girl. She made me feel like I was going to puke flowers or something. It was a horrible, happy feeling; like someone brought you everything you've ever wanted and left it just out your reach.

Peter told us Margaret was to be our new mother, and I decided suddenly that I didn't want a new mother. I very suddenly decided that I would much rather be off fighting pirates.

"Alright boys, you know what to do," Peter said after a moment. "It's time to make Margaret a house." The rest of the lost boys scattered, but I didn't want to leave. The pirates could wait.

"So, dear mother, how shall we spend our time while the children are busy?" Peter said, turning to Margaret.

"Can we go see the fairies?" Margaret said.

"Why of course, fair maiden!" Peter bowed, then offered the lady his arm and led her away.

I am very wise when it comes to girls. I know everything that girls adore: chocolates, rainbows, and ceramics. I know that girls love flowers more than anything else.

So I went straight to the meadow. The meadow was stupid of course, full of stupid flowers. I can't tolerate flowers because they make me think of happy things. But Margaret would probably love flowers because she is a girl.

I meandered through the meadow for a few minutes, avoiding eye contact with the smelly things until one caught my eye. It was bright shining blue, the color of Margaret's eyes. I bent over to pick it, and without thinking about how toxic the thing might be, I lifted it to my nose.

Smelling it was a mistake, of course. The second the floral scent reached my nostrils I was filled with so many happy thoughts, I could have made Captain Hook fly. Margaret was the prettiest girl who had ever come to Neverland. She would like some pretty flowers for her house.

I set to work looking for the bluest and the pinkest and the whitest of the flowers. I was looking for the ones that would remind me of her.

I don't know how long I was in that meadow, but it must have been a while. I had acquired quite the armful of the prettiest flowers around when Nibs broke through the tree line.

"What are you doing out here, Slightly?" He said. "We finished the house hours ago."

I turned to him with a wide grin on my face.

"Oh no, Slightly!" Nibs said. "You didn't—"

A few flowers fell from my arms and I scrambled to pick them up. "Didn't what?" I said, standing up again.

"Peter is going to kill you. You fell in love with his girl!"

"I didn't! You're stupid."

"Come on then," Nibs said. "Give me those. I'll make sure they make it to the house."

I glared at Nibs as I awkwardly passed the flowers off to him. He was stupid to think I was in love. He didn't remember anything about the mainland, and I remembered everything. It didn't matter, of course. Margaret was Peter's girl.

**[[ Hope you liked it! More to come! ]]**


	2. Chapter 2

A wise boy once said that the prettier a girl is, the more annoying it is when she looks at you.

Of course the wise boy was me. I said it shortly after the incident in the meadow.

The girl Margaret was particularly annoying when she looked at me because she made me feel very small. Naturally, I am quite a large boy, with magnificent muscles and rugged good looks, so the feeling of being small is quite uncomfortable.

I was sitting under the willow tree, contemplating life in the fading light when she at last found me there. She seemed to materialize from behind the hanging branches like a cluster of snowflakes. One moment the world is an ugly grey; the next moment there are beautiful snowflakes everywhere. A small shiver ran through me.

"Hello," she said, her voice like sleigh bells.

I felt like I was going to puke. All these happy comparisons my mind was making made me want to stomp on cute little forest animals.

When I didn't respond, she stepped under the tent-like canopy. "I think your name is Slightly," she said.

I grunted in reply.

Hesitantly at first, then more confident she stepped towards me. "I would like it if we were properly introduced," she said, holding out a hand to me. "My name is Margaret."

I got slowly up to my feet so that I wouldn't look too eager, and shook her hand. "Yes," I said. "I'm Slightly." I dropped my hand to my side, and rubbed it against the coarse fabric of my pants, as if that would cure the tingling that had been activated by her soft grip.

"I'm very happy to be here in Neverland," she said, her eyes turning to thin, sparkling lines from her smile. "Everything is so beautiful."

I couldn't stand to look at her anymore. She was so mercilessly annoying that I wanted to scream. I turned from her and stomped out from under the canopy and into the willow grove, not daring to imagine the look of hurt that must have come over her face by my rudeness.

Out in the centre of the grove, a small stream twirled around the trunks of the trees. The stars were beginning to show in the deep blue of the sky, and fireflies danced around to the music of the twilight.

It was all too disgustingly perfect for words.

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself fighting pirates on Captain Hook's ship, far away from pretty girls and sparkling streams and all the other stupid happy things that I had never noticed before Margaret's arrival.

The girl gasped behind me. "Fairies?" she said.

"What, are you stupid or something?" I turned to her. "Those are just fireflies."

She didn't look hurt in the least bit, much to my disappointment. "They're beautiful," she said.

"If you think fireflies are pretty, just wait until Peter shows you the fairies,"

"Oh," now she did look hurt. I refused to ask her what was wrong. Why should I, anyway? I wasn't in love with her. She was Peter's girl.

"You know," she said after a moment. "Peter was going to take me to see the fairies, but he's forgotten."

I made a sound in my throat. Peter was always breaking his promises to girls, and yet they never stopped loving him for it. The fact had never bothered me before, but somehow it was different with Margaret.

There was a long silence. I stared at a point in the night sky to keep from looking at her.

"Would you show me?" she said suddenly.

My eyes snapped down and met hers. The slightest smile traced her lips. I squinted at her, and found that she was not thinking about Peter at all.

I wanted to say, "No thank you, you smell like rotting rabbit brains," but instead my mouth said, "You're really pretty."

Did I just call her pretty? I stood for a minute, horrified at what I had done. Margaret smiled at me, and my stomach rose into my chest. I turned and ran from the willow grove before she could say anything, and I didn't look back.


End file.
